Into The Clearing
by Jade Danielle
Summary: You never know what may lie at the end of every spontaneous act. You can't forsee the bumps, the scrapes, the hardships. But somehow one always knows the end will outweigh the journey. MarcoDylan oneshot.


**Into The Clearing**

A/N: This takes place somewhere between It's Raining Men, and The Power of Love. Oh, and I don't know if there's a forest behind the school, besides the ravine off to the _side_ of the school, and don't really care. The forest is now there due to plot purposes P  
Oh, and I suck at seperating paragraphs or whatever. Ignore the suckiness of that aspect. Hopefully it's not too noticeable P /end AN 

"Hurry up!" Marco whined to his boyfriend Dylan, tugging at their joined hands in an attempt to get him to walk faster.  
Dylan laughed nervously and looked over his shoulder toward the school, before replying, "What if someone sees us? We're not even supposed to be going in here."  
"Well, that's the whole point of speeding up, isn't it?" Marco replied scathingly.  
Smirking, Dylan quickened his pace as his boyfriend led him toward the small forest located behind the school. "You know, I never would have thought it. Marco Del Rossi, breaking a school rule."  
"Shut up," Marco replied absentmindedly, his eyes scanning the range of trees in front of them.  
"I always forget exactly where it is..." he said, wincing a bit as he imagined what would happen if someone caught them going into the forest. Marco couldn't even _remember_ the last time he'd gotten in trouble for something, and he didn't really want to start now.

Finally he spotted the place he was looking for. "Come on," he muttered, pulling Dylan toward an opening in the wall of trees. Pushing aside a few branches, they found themselves on a path leading into the dimly lit forest. Smiling at Dylan, Marco tugged him forward, walking further in.  
Dylan looked around. "How did you find this?" he asked in awe.

It wasn't really as if this mass of trees was particularly beautiful or anything; if Dylan was honest with himself, they were probably some of the ugliest trees he'd seen in a while. But it was the overall _feel_ and _look_ and _sound_ of this place, this escape, that appealed to him. The thin rays of light sneaking in through the occasional gap in the branches above them...the distant twitterings of birds...the feeling of peace. And peace was definitely something the couple needed. The stress of their loads of schoolwork, Dylan's hockey practice, Marco's band practice, and attempting to actually do things as a couple, all while trying to keep their entire relationship hidden from Marco's parents, was really getting to them. So Dylan was pleasantly surprised when Marco demanded that he let him take him off somewhere during lunch so that they could spend some time together.

In response to Dylan's question, Marco shrugged and said, "You know, I don't really know. I was just walking by and I saw it...I've been coming back a lot ever since. It's really nice to be able to come out here and just walk and think about nothing in particular. Especially when I've been having a bad day or something."  
Dylan nodded in understanding. "So...where does this trail lead?"  
"Nowhere," Marco replied. "It stops after a bit. Just...ends. I've thought about just cutting more of the path out...but hacking at a bunch of trees would sort of defeat the purpose of coming out here to relax."  
Dylan chuckled. The two boys continued walking in silence for a minute, just reveling in the fact that they were finally alone together.

Sighing contentedly, Dylan disentangled his fingers from Marco's to reach over and wrap his arm around his waist, pulling him closer as they walked and receiving a brilliant smile from Marco in response.  
In the deep, but comfortable silence, part of Dylan felt as if he should make conversation, ask how the band was doing, how his family was, and so on...but the other part of him hated the thought of breaking the lazy stillness with words. Just as Dylan was working himself up to ask, "So, how was English?" he noticed something to the right of their little path.  
"Hey, where does that lead?" Dylan asked, stopping to look at a rough, tangled trail crookedly breaking off from their clean-cut path.  
Marco frowned in its direction. "No idea," he said. "I've never even noticed it before."

Dylan's curiosity getting the better of him, he stepped onto the path, pulling Marco along with him, Marco yelping indignantly.  
"Oh, come on," Dylan pleaded. "Aren't you at all curious where it leads?"  
Marco gave Dylan a Look. "There's no way I'm scratching myself up with a bunch of limbs when I could be walking safely down the right path. No way."  
Dylan gave Marco a pleading look, sticking out his bottom lip for extra effect.  
"No way, Dylan.""I'm serious. Stop it.""Okay, fine. But you're buying me new clothes when these get torn up."  
With a long-suffering sigh, Marco allowed himself to be pulled onto the grim excuse for a path.

Stumbling over a tree root almost immediately, Marco began to regret giving in to Dylan's begging. Why exactly he wanted to explore this mess of a footpath was beyond him. Then again, Dylan was more of the strong, athletic, adventurous type. Marco, after being whacked in the face by a stray tree limb, scowled as his boyfriend oh-so-casually brushed a limb aside as if it were nothing.

After a few minutes' time, Marco began to wonder if his face would still be recognizable after being scratched so many times. _I really hope so,_ he thought. _It'll make it easier for them to identify the body when they find me out here._ Chuckling to himself, Marco prodded Dylan on the back. "Seriously, Dyl, can we go back now?"  
Receiving no response but a smile from his boyfriend, Marco sighed exaggeratedly, looking at Dylan out of the corner of his eye and paying for this mistake by taking another smack in the face by a tree limb.

Rubbing his face as they rounded a curve in the trail, they came face to face with a clump of bushes blocking their path. Frowning slightly, Dylan began trying to work himself through to the other side. Marco watched in amusement as the blonde finally succeeded and disappeared entirely. He jumped in surprise, however, when he heard his boyfriend yell from behind the bushes. Peering ahead nervously, Marco shouted, "Dylan?"  
Listening intently for a sound, Marco sighed in relief when he heard Dylan say excitedly, "Marco, come here. You've got to see this."

Wondering vaguely what could be so spectacular, Marco began struggling through the bushes, finally coming out the other side. Looking down to brush some debris off of his clothes, he asked, "What?" Looking up, he saw just what had excited Dylan so much.

They were standing in a clearing, entirely out of place, walled in by the mass of tangled limbs and leaves. This place seemed almost to be intentionally defying its surroundings. With the slightly overgrown grass...the tiny flowers speckling the view…the soft light filtering in...this clearing just screamed serenity and peacefulness.

Marco gasped slightly, looking around in surprise. "Whoah," he murmured. Looking over at Dylan, he smiled and said, "Who would have thought this would be here?"  
"I told you we should follow that trail, now didn't I," Dylan replied, grinning widely.  
"Oh, like you even knew where it went!" Marco exclaimed, laughing and punching Dylan lightly on the arm. "For all you knew you were leading us straight to some evil monsters' lair or who even knows what."  
"Or a..." Dylan paused for dramatic effect. "...bee village!" He finished, shuddering in mock fear.  
Marco snorted, laughing. "'Bee village'?" he managed to choke out. Still giggling, Marco leaned onto Dylan, clutching his arm for support and resting his forehead on his shoulder. Laughter finally subsiding from both boys, Marco looked up at Dylan, smiling widely.

Looking into his boyfriend's deep brown eyes, Dylan smiled back and pulled Marco further into the clearing, closer to a particularly comfy looking area of grass. Plopping down onto the ground, Dylan pulled Marco down next to him. Both boys lay back, Marco attempting to discreetly snuggle up closer to Dylan.

Dylan smiled softly, pulling Marco even closer and resting his chin on the top of his head.  
"This is nice," Dylan murmured quietly. "No, better than nice. Spectacular," he corrected himself.  
Tracing intricate designs on Dylan's chest with his finger, Marco gave a muffled "mmph" in reply, just thinking about how right it felt, laying here in his boyfriend's arms. He didn't even notice the scratches on his cheek anymore.

I guess that's how it is...you have your hard times, rough spots, rocky, unstable footpaths leading who knows where...and there was no doubt these two would have those moments. But if you're truly meant to be together, at the end of all these hard times you'll find that there's always something good waiting just around the corner...a stretch of something so beautiful that you no longer remember what it took to get you there. A clearing amongst the tangled mass of darkness surrounding you.

Holding Marco close, listening to his steady breathing on his chest, Dylan basked in the tranquility of his surroundings, forgetting that they still had the journey back.


End file.
